Hands off! Getting to Grips with Touchless Technology

Employees’ hands can become one of the major carriers of bacteria in the workplace. If surfaces are contaminated with dirt and germs, employees can then easily spread these when they touch the surfaces. Even is surfaces appear clean, they may not be safe. People cannot see the germs, so they may not even be aware of the dangers they are carrying. Washrooms can obviously be a particularly hazardous area in the regard. If employees don’t practice good hygiene, they could facilitate the spread of germs and bacteria among the entire workforce.

By reducing the risks of germs being spread by touching contaminated surfaces, you can reduce a number of days lost to illness and increase productivity. You also reduce the costs associated with sick days, hygiene failures and even fines. In addition, by promoting employee health and welfare, you can improve employee morale.

Using sensors

So how can you reduce the chances of diseases being spread through your workforce? One practical strategy is to reduce the instances of employees having to touch possibly contaminated surfaces.

Restrooms, for obvious reasons, are likely to house the most contaminated surfaces in your workplace. These surfaces are then often touched by employees, who may then spread germs to other surfaces or even other people they come into contact with. Even if employees practice excellent hand-washing techniques, restroom surfaces can still become contaminated.

Touchless technology, as the name implies, reduces the risk of employees touching potentially contaminated surfaces in restrooms. Sensors on toilets, dispensers, sinks and hand dryers can activate the equipment automatically, so employees don’t need to press buttons or touch handles, dispensers or surfaces. This, in turn, reduces the risks of infections spreading.

Benefits

Touchless technology brings a number of  practical benefits to your business:

• Increased health. By reducing the amount of touching of contaminated surfaces, you can enhance employee health and well-being.
• Energy savings. Touchless technology is more energy efficient, because it cuts off automatically, rather than waiting for human intervention. This reduces energy waste and costs.
• Productivity and profits. By reducing the likelihood of employee sickness and downtime, touchless technology helps ensure productivity is maintained and profits can be generated.
• Reduced costs. Touchless technology doesn’t have to involve expensive electronic equipment. You can use simple, manual strategies, such as sanitary levers, to protect employees from contaminated surfaces. And remember, any costs accrued from implementing touchless technology can be balanced by the reduced risk of health-related costs and fines.
• Aesthetic appeal. Touchless technology devices come in a range of stylish and discreet designs that can enhance the visual appeal of the restroom.

Deploying Touchless Strategies

You can deploy touchless technologies in other areas of the restroom too. Your aim is to ensure that, once employees have taken the care to carefully wash and dry their hands, they don’t accidentally touch another contaminated surface. For example, using auto hand soap dispensers, hand sanitisers,  or having automatic doors eliminates the need for employees to touch washroom facilities as they leave the restroom while improving the multisensory experience and raising hand hygiene compliance.

Another option is to use touchless bins or feminine hygiene units. A simple foot lever on a bin means that employees don’t need to touch the bin with their hands in order to dispose of their waste.

The restroom should be well stocked with sanitary and cleaning supplies. Touchless cleaning products enable you to clean restrooms without having to touch the surfaces with your hands. As well as being more hygenic, this is a more ergonomically efficient way to keep restrooms clean.

Touchless technologies enable you to reduce one of the greatest health risks to your business. No matter what your budget, you can deploy an efficient system that will improve the health of your employees and protect the reputation of your business.

Want to know how to deploy touchless technology in your business? Contact a hygiene expert today!